A bridge fixed by the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), at the price of N22.3 million in a community at Enugu State has begun wearing off one month after its repair.
According to Mawa Foundation, the Federal Government had last year allocated the sum of N22, 339,550 to FERMA, an agency saddled with the mandate for monitoring and maintaining all Federal roads in Nigeria, to fix a bridge at Amangwu Oboffia Ataavu community in Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State.
The bridge which FERMA said it has fixed and delivered to the community in March this 2021 has since begun to wear off.
Tracka, a public accountability organization that visited the bridge, says it has been repaired by FERMA and delivered for community use.
However, pictures of the bridge published by Tracka showed that it has since begun to tear off few months after its maintenance work was completed.
The contract for the repair which was supervised and implemented by FERMA was awarded to Messrs Chez Aviv Nigeria Limited.
It was gathered that despite the huge amount of money spent in fixing the bridge by FERMA, it has since started wearing off in a clear example of substandard projects that are been executed and delivered to communities across Nigeria.
A community resident who uses the bridge and does not want his identity revealed told MAWA Foundation that FERMA did not repair the bridge but rather repainted it and claimed it has been fixed.
He has, however, called on the anti-graft agencies to investigate FERMA and the contractor, pointing out that apart from painting the bridge, no maintenance work was carried out.
